Eurolanche

Backlund, Gaudreau power Flames to win

Bounces happen in sports. One team is usually appreciative of those gifts, while the other is left shaking its head. The Colorado Avalanche found itself on the negative side of things on Tuesday night in a 6-3 loss to the Calgary Flames at Pepsi Center.

It could be easy for the Avs to use the bounce excuse as to why they lost the contest, but they're not doing it. The team's play simply wasn't good enough to create those chances at the other end of the ice.

"You feel for Picks in there when they're bouncing off the back and in front of people and stuff, but at the same time it's in our zone and we're not pushing it their way," said Jarome Iginla. "There were some unfortunate plays, but we still take responsibility for that and have to find ways to be better. They were better than us tonight."

The variety of ways the puck went into the cage was impressive. The rubber went off multiple skates, the end wall and the back of goaltender Calvin Pickard in the second period, and the Flames went from being down 1-0 to leading 4-1 by the second intermission.

First, Mikael Backlund scored on a pass in the slot that ricocheted off Avs defenseman Fedor Tyutin's skate at 1:33. Then, Sam Bennett tipped in a point shot that was also redirected off Francois Beauchemin's skate at 9:49. Two minutes later, Johnny Gaudreau gave Calgary a 3-1 lead as his blast from the blue line sailed high over the net but caromed off the end boards and Pickard's back before settling in on the other side of the goal line.

"The first one goes in, you kind of just have to shrug it off. Then the second one goes in, and you kind of have to shrug it off. Then the third one goes in, and you kind of have to shrug it off," Pickard said. "It's frustrating. I feel good, and I look up and I let three goals in halfway through the game. It's frustrating. I definitely felt a little frustrated out there because I was playing a pretty solid game and I just wasn't getting any results."

The Avalanche used it timeout after the third unlucky goal and even got the score back to within one, but the hockey gods were once again cruel. Backlund got credit for his second of the game after a scramble in front of the Colorado net resulted in another tally off a player's boot.

"We were better. We had some moments there," head coach Jared Bednar said of his team's play after the timeout. "Then they went down there and got another one. They poked at the goalie and it went off our skate and went in. That was kind of deflating, but you could tell that at least we had a handful of guys digging in there and trying to do the right things after the timeout."

It's hard to place all the blame on Pickard, as he had little to no chance of stopping many of the pucks that got past him.

That fact doesn't seem to matter to the netminder. At the end of the day, he gave up six goals.

"There isn't a whole lot you can do on some of them, but they still count the same as any other goal," Pickard said. "And you really have to bear down if you're a [victim] of one of those bounces. I was the [victim] of a few of them tonight. I'm not going to sit here and make excuses. I let in six goals, and they all count the same, so it's definitely tough."

After the contest, Bednar took aim at the players in front of his goalie for not playing the way they're capable of in consecutive games.

The Avalanche was coming off one of its better performances of the season in Thursday's 2-1 overtime win at the Chicago Blackhawks but couldn't duplicate that effort against the Flames.

"We didn't do things tonight that we just did four nights ago in Chicago," Bednar said. "To me, there is an expectation until we buy in and get committed to play the way we can play, we're just flipping a coin and losing 50 percent of the time because we're not buying in and playing the right way all the time. You leave games to chance and that's what happens. If you don't do things the right way, you're not going to win."

VARLY MISSES SECOND STRAIGHT

Goaltender Semyon Varlamov was scratched for a second consecutive game on Tuesday night as he continues to deal with a groin injury.

Avs head coach Jared Bednar said afterward that team doctors evaluated Varlamov during the contest, but he had yet to get an updated on the netminder.

Calvin Pickard got the start in net, with Jeremy Smith backing him up after being recalled on Monday night from the San Antonio Rampage.

KEY POINTS

Jarome Iginla second-period goal marked his 1,282nd career point, giving him sole possession of 34th place in the league annuals for scoring. He was previously tied with Alex Delvecchio (1,281 points).

Gilbert Perreault is next on the list in 33rd place with 1,326 points.

Iginla's marker was also his 616th goal of his career, nine behind Colorado executive vice president/general manager Joe Sakic (625) for 15th place in league history.

Assisting on Iginla's tally was Cody Goloubef, who earned his first point with the Avalanche. He later picked up another helper on Gabriel Landeskog's second goal in the third period.

Goloubef was playing in his seventh game with the Avs since being acquired in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Nov. 28.

COLBORNE FACES FORMER TEAM

Joe Colborne was drafted by Boston and began his career with Toronto, but the Avalanche forward found his niche in the league with his hometown Calgary Flames. The Calgary native had played the previous three seasons with the Flames before signing with Colorado this past summer.

On Tuesday night, he took on his old teammates for the first time.

"There is going to be some jitters out there, for sure," Colborne said after morning skate. "It's obviously different the first time you go back and play some of those guys. I have so many friends on the other side, it's going to be weird watching them warmup down at the other end. At the same time, once you get out there, that first shift, I'm going to make sure that I finish some checks early and send a message to some of those guys."

The adjustment to a new club has been fairly smooth for Colborne away from the rink. He has previous ties to Colorado as he played at the University of Denver before turning pro. His new teammates also welcomed him with open arms.

"Any time you get to a new team and new organizations, things are done a little bit differently, but the guys were so good at accepting me," Colborne said. "We got a real tight group, fun group to be around."

-- by Ron Knabenbauer for ColoradoAvalanche.com --